This is a sound walk that 谢婷婷 Hailey Xie and i made in January, seven days after another big snow storm in Beijing. It was originally intended as material for the second issue of wear journal, but it felt a pity to turn all of these sounds into text-only format. We ended up leaving it out, though now in light of a recent conversation with Bruno and Hlynur in Buenos Aires, we could imagine the winter again.

I am walking with the ZOOM H4n digital recorder with built-in mics (now panned for left ear), Haxi is using a minidisc player and Sound Professionals in-ear binaural mics (now panned for right ear). If you listen carefully you’ll hear some things in a strangely layered effect, though i’m sorry though to say, i’ve destroyed the binaural in putting our tracks together. Here’s from the doorstep of HomeShop to the edge of the alleyway, before everything gets lively. Download the mp3 version [256kb/s, 11.4 mb] here.

When I was exporting the file for this, somehow the file became corrupted and time-stretched… Thought some of you might enjoy that, too.

家作坊, 2008年8月10日，14:43。刘杨和她朋友骑自行车过来玩一会和喝酸梅汤，阿姨的小狗狗过来尿在他们车上。现在是谁的自行车呢？

HomeShop, 10 August 2008, 14:43. Liu Yang and her friend visit HomeShop after lunch to catch up and share some plum juice. Auntie’s dog comes by for a visit and pees on their bicycles. Now who’s bike is it?

2008年8月7日：今天在火炬接力通过北京的时候，张哥送了我一本《北京人手册》。

7 August 2008: As the torch relay crosses Beijing today, big brother Zhang gives me the gift of “A Handbook of Beijing”.